Recently I have been trying to ‘spice up’ our meals. I hate buying jars and ready meals, not because of the sugar and salt content (although obviously that doesn’t help) but because they have made me a rubbish and lazy cook over the years. Making a simple tomato sauce isn’t hard but I never knew where to start. Well, with tomatoes as it goes. Both Hubby and I suffer terribly with ‘fridge blindness’, to counteract this I started menu planning a few months ago. Not only has it saved us a fortune, reduced our waste and made our diet healthier than it was before, it has helped me use up a lot of things in the cupboard I wasn’t too sure what to do with outside of a recipe.

The other week I had ‘run out of food’ (I literally hadn’t) but the shopping wasn’t arriving until the next day. I hate walking around the supermarket with two toddlers in tow so its online or we don’t eat! Eventually after a total mind blank I came up with this and it was delicious! I found the sausages in the freezer….

Ingredients:

Sausages (I used all 6 from the pack as they weren’t going to keep anyway)

2 Mixed Colour Peppers chopped into bite-size pieces.

1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes

2 Crushed Garlic Cloves

2 tsp Dried Oregano (I suspect fresh is nicer but I didn’t have any)

1 tsp Coriander (again dried for the same reason)

½ tbsp Chipotle paste

1 tbsp Balsamic Glaze

1 tbsp Tomato Paste

Spinach

Pasta (I used Tagliatelle as it’s my favourite)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 °C

Place the sausages on a baking tray and cook for 30 mins or until cooked through. Turn half way to ensure even cooking.

Start cooking the pasta as per the packet instructions.

Place a sauce pan on a medium heat and add the garlic cloves and chopped peppers. Cook until lightly charred.

Add the tinned tomatoes, dried herbs, chipotle paste and tomato paste and bring to the boil.

Lower the heat and simmer until as thin as you like a tomato sauce. Add a little water if necessary. It’s entirely up to your personal preference.

Chop up the cooked sausages and add them and the balsamic glaze to the tomato sauce.

Add the spinach to the tomato sauce and it is ready when the spinach has just started to wilt. (I didn’t do this stage as I was the only one who wanted the spinach so I served it on top as you can see.)

Serve with the tagliatelle. You could mix it all up, if you preferred, before serving.

I have recently switched from store bought to home made pasta sauces and imo they taste so much better (and they work out much cheaper too)
I love adding sausages to pasta sauces, I like adding sausages to most things 😂😂😂
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I'm Kirsty, a Mum to Ellie (5) and Trixie (3), blogging about our Eco Friendly, Foodie, Family Lifestyle.
On this blog you will find plenty of recipes from salads to cakes, as well on our latest tips to live a little more Eco friendly and tips to reduce household waste.
I am completely Pinterest and Instagram obsessed and find them great places for inspiration.